4/8 deadsville
 

Went to LJ yesterday, almost nobody on the water calm conditions a little rain early. A decent amount of bait but didn't check the tide and launched an hour before slack high. I was really hoping for some surface action and even brought the fly rod but not one boil spotted. Trolled a mack around for a few hours in some fishy spots losing a few to dogs and went home. Didn't see anyone hooked up just bait.

Do tides, slack or otherwise, make a difference out by the kelp beds in La Jolla?

Maybe I should ask my question this way: what difference does it make?

In the bays, yes, because it's probably the main source of water movement. And water volume in the South Bay.

Out in the ocean, it seems like there is a lot more variation of direction and source of currents. When I see water slicks, I tend to stay out of the dead zone in the middle, unless I'm just passing through to another location. Still trying to get a feeling for the relevance of thermoclines too.

I know sometimes I have lots of floating kelp to go around, other times my route is more over the top. Not sure if that has to do with tides or the time of they year when kelp growth is more prolific.

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And while we are on the subject of trying to guess good days and bad days in LJ, what are your opinions about the day after it rains? --- better, worse or not a factor worth considering?

Moving water is generally a requirement for inshore ocean fishing.
Whether it's generated from tidal flow, or our external
"California Current" it introduces oxygen and gets the feeding
cycle going.

Weather, rain? Fish sense barometric changes, that's why
bait fish hang out on the bottom during the winter months.

So, is it better to fish before or after a major weather change,
like a cold front? Sometimes it's great just before, sometimes
it's great just after. And sometimes it's dead.

I have found from fishing La Jolla for the past 10 years, that
fishing during favorable conditions produces better results
than not. It's no guarantee, but it's better than blindly going out.

heavy storm last night around 2-3. looking at all the forecasts wind and gusts would be safe to launch before sunrise. rain would pass as well. thought I would give it a go today. Launched at the life guard tower...waves were the smallest I've seen it for sometime...shin slappers. I was expecting somewhat rougher conditions but it was pretty calm. Issues with my fish finder so I had to go blind today. Figured bait has been very easy on past outings seeing/hearing bait on the surface. Absolutely none of that today. few guys out today but did not see anyone hook up and many retired early including myself.

The low pressure system and storm definitely screwed up the bite today. Also the tide was not right. For ocean fishing from the shore or out on the yak I usually get bit on the change to a high tide from two hours prior to the peak.

So I would definitely say todays skunk had to do with the pressure change. Caught a 30# YT a few days ago when it was raining in the morning...can't remember the tide or any major weather impacts that day but at least the bait was out.

I didn't stay for the the tide change to high I believe at 1230. Who knows they may be killing it right now after a few hours of stabilization after the storm.

got to get rid of this skunk...two trips in a row.

Honestly, I don't know what tides are going to be best and exactly how pressure changes affect the local fish. I have only lived here a few years but my east coast experience and instincts tell me the fishing is almost always better with movement. Solunar fishing indexes make a lot of sense to me so you may want to look at them. I don't like to fish full moon but friday was just after a new moon so it should have been good had I gotten there earlier and under normal conditions. I think the cold night and front put the fish down. Also, this is especially noticeable in the northeast, just before a pressure drop there is usually a pre-frontal feed where the fish go nuts for a few hours. The fish know feeding conditions won't be good (bad visibility, dirty water messing with sense of smell etc...) and put on the feedbag to ride out the storm.

A few years ago I went camping with some buds at lake yam in aka near mount fuji...A storm was on its way that night but I got to the lake to do some bass fishing. I caught 28 bass consecutively. ..yes consecutively. Unbelievable...my average is 1 large mouth per outing if lucky. The bass were dinks but it was still amazing.

Thought this lake was hot so I went the following weekend and got skunked on a sunny cold day.

Before a storm churns up things I do agree they can sense the pressure change and feed heavily to hold them down throughout the storm...no different from us getting goods from the market preparing for hurricanes I guess.